As conserving surgery is routinely applied for the treatment of early-stage breast cancer, the need for new technology to improve intraoperative margin assessment has become increasingly important. In this study, the potential of fast field-cycling1H-NMR relaxometry as a new diagnostic tool was evaluated. The technique allows the determination of the tissue proton relaxation rates (R1), as a function of the applied magnetic field, which are affected by the changes in the composi-tion of the mammary gland tissue occurring during the development of neoplasia. The study involved 104 small tissue samples obtained from surgical specimens destined for histopathology. It was found that a good accuracy in margin assessment, i.e., a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 85%, can be achieved by using two quantifiers, namely (i) the slope of the line joining the R1 values measured at 0.02 and 1 MHz and (ii) the sum of the R1 values measured at 0.39 and 1 MHz. The method is fast, and it does not rely on the expertise of a pathologist or cytologist. The obtained results suggest that a simplified, low-cost, automated instrument might compete well with the cur-rently available tools in margin assessment.

Low-field nmr relaxometry for intraoperative tumour margin assessment in breast-conserving surgery

Bitonto V.;Ruggiero M. R.;Castellano I.;Aime S.;Baroni S.
;
Geninatti Crich S.
2021-01-01

Abstract

As conserving surgery is routinely applied for the treatment of early-stage breast cancer, the need for new technology to improve intraoperative margin assessment has become increasingly important. In this study, the potential of fast field-cycling1H-NMR relaxometry as a new diagnostic tool was evaluated. The technique allows the determination of the tissue proton relaxation rates (R1), as a function of the applied magnetic field, which are affected by the changes in the composi-tion of the mammary gland tissue occurring during the development of neoplasia. The study involved 104 small tissue samples obtained from surgical specimens destined for histopathology. It was found that a good accuracy in margin assessment, i.e., a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 85%, can be achieved by using two quantifiers, namely (i) the slope of the line joining the R1 values measured at 0.02 and 1 MHz and (ii) the sum of the R1 values measured at 0.39 and 1 MHz. The method is fast, and it does not rely on the expertise of a pathologist or cytologist. The obtained results suggest that a simplified, low-cost, automated instrument might compete well with the cur-rently available tools in margin assessment.
2021
13
16
4141
4152
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/13/16/4141/htm
Breast cancer; Breast-conserving surgery; Cross-membrane water exchange; Low-field NMR relaxometry; Margin assessment
Bitonto V.; Ruggiero M.R.; Pittaro A.; Castellano I.; Bussone R.; Broche L.M.; Lurie D.J.; Aime S.; Baroni S.;Geninatti Crich S.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1822559
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